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Carol Aichele
* R * Lost to Andrew Dinniman by 13 points for PA Senator, 19th district, May 16, 2006 special election. Links * www.carolforsenate.com Issues page from May 19, 2006 Stand Up for Property Taxpayers As a County Commissioner, Carol Aichele held property tax to one of the lowest rates in suburban Philadelphia. As a School Board Director, she helped protect property taxpayers by holding the line on per-pupil instructional costs even while her local schools earned “Best in Nation” ratings. As our State Senator, she will use this experience to fight for smart reforms to the property tax system. bullet * Expand the Property Tax and Rent Rebate to help more seniors than ever before. * Hold the line on school spending by requiring school districts to hold tax increases to the rate of inflation or less. If they don’t, voters will have the chance to approve their local school budgets. This will help working families budget their money every year. * Bring home our fair share of education funding from the state because when the state pays more, local property taxpayers pay less. * Make sure local tax revenue stays local by reforming the Sterling Act to ensure our local school districts get back any earned income tax revenue they have lost to other communities under the current law. * Fight for an equitable distribution of gaming money by basing all education funding from gambling revenue on a per pupil basis that guarantees our schools are treated the same as any others in the state. This would help stabilize or reduce our property taxes. Work for a Better Healthcare System Chester and Montgomery Counties’ working families and seniors deserve access to quality healthcare and affordable prescription drugs. As our State Senator, Carol Aichele will work for initiatives to help make sure that’s exactly what happens. bullet * Work to reduce prescription drug costs by making more older residents than ever before eligible for the state's successful PACE and PACENET affordable prescription drug programs. * Work to ensure the PACE and PACENET plans better blend into the new federal prescription drug program. * Encourage employers to provide health coverage for working families – and help the self-employed who buy their own medical coverage with new healthcare tax credits. * Keep good doctors in our area with common sense lawsuit reforms that help reduce medical malpractice insurance rates by cutting the number of frivolous lawsuits in our courts. * Help end the nursing shortage by increasing funds for nursing training, and with incentives such as tuition tax credits for people to enter the nursing profession. Preserve Open Space to Protect Taxpayers Carol Aichele knows when we protect open space from development, we do two very important things: preserve our natural heritage for generations to come and reduce the need to increase property taxes to pay for services like schools, police and more. That’s why, as County Commissioner, she kept her promise to invest more in open space preservation than ever before and work to revitalize our older towns and communities. In the State Senate, Carol Aichele will continue to push for initiatives that protect open space, help control development, and help hold the line on property taxes. * Push for a new “Community Revitalization Program” that helps rebuild our older towns and communities, making them more attractive places for people to live and reducing the need for development of our farmland. * Refocus state spending on open space preservation to fast-growing areas like Chester and Montgomery Counties that need to protect open space now. * Give local officials more tools and power to control development through regional planning, changes to the state’s Municipal Planning Code and more. * Encourage “Brownfield Redevelopment” that reclaims old industrial sites for smart growth instead of destroying our open spaces. Change the Way Harrisburg Works As a County Commissioner, Carol Aichele kept her promise to make county government more transparent by putting meeting agendas and minutes online, and instituting a monthly county financial report available to anyone. As our State Senator, she will fight for common sense reforms that make state government more open to the people it serves. * Lead by Example. If elected, Carol Aichele will drive her own car and act like every other working person in the 19th District: by submitting for legitimate work expenses and nothing more. * Push for a Statewide Lobbyist Disclosure Law that requires strict reporting standards on who is being lobbied, who is doing the lobbying and what is being spent. We are the only state in the nation that doesn’t have a lobbyist disclosure act, and Carol Aichele intends to change that. * Expand the people’s access to Open Records by proposing a concerted effort by the legislature, enforced by strict deadlines, to have public records of concern to our citizens scanned into a database and placed on the internet for public access. * Provide clearer definition of the state’s Sunshine Laws to help them be better understood by the state, county, and local officials who must follow them. Aichele